Sofia, May 16, 2022
On May 13, 2022, an inter-institutional work meeting was held on "Unsupervised Pregnancy - Problems and Opportunities" with host and moderator Dr. Anton Tonev, Chairman of the Health Committee in the 47th National Parliament. The Ministry of Health was represented by Nevena Tsankova, Deputy Minister of Health and Dr. Tanya Andreeva, pediatrician and advisor to the Minister of Health.
The meeting is another step in the advocacy campaign "Every baby is priceless", which aims to ensure adequate follow-up of all pregnant women in Bulgaria, regardless of their health insurance status. The National Network of Health Mediators managed the communication component of this campaign and was represented by the Chair, Board members and health mediators.
In the first part of the meeting, the analysis "The Price of Indifference" prepared by the sociologist Venelin Stoychev was presented, which addresses the economic consequences of the lack of follow-up of pregnancy. Lawyer Maria Sharkova reviewed the legal framework of the problem, and then the opinions of medical specialists and experts in institutions and non-governmental organizations were presented and commented on. At the end of the discussion, specific actions were outlined to overcome the negative health trends in the field of maternal and child health related to unsupervised pregnancies.
The main problem that needs to be solved is that currently uninsured pregnant women are entitled to only one preventive examination for the entire period of pregnancy, which is prescribed in Ordinance № 26 of the Ministry of Health of 14.06.2007 on the provision of obstetric care for uninsured women. According to health experts, this is extremely insufficient. Practice shows that Ordinance 26 is applied in isolated places, that there are obstacles to the implementation of this single review regulated in it. As a result, about 7,000 women give birth each year without being monitored by a specialist. This situation makes it impossible to diagnose and treat a number of preventable problems and treatable infections that are a risk to the health and sometimes to the lives of the baby and his mother. The economic analysis presented at the meeting proves that in addition to the social consequences of the lack of access to health care, there are serious economic ones for society. In his speech, Venelin Stoychev emphasized that it is important to make public health policies based on specific data and forecasts with relevant evidence. He pointed out that good governance of the health system could address the problems associated with a lack of sufficient funding - namely, directing money to the places where it will be spent most efficiently.
Assoc. Prof. Anton Tonev confirmed that the efforts and the number of examinations currently given are not sufficient for a normal pregnancy and the birth of a healthy child among the group of uninsured women, and this affects the motivation of obstetricians and gynecologists to work with these women. According to him, the quality of the offered health services should always be put first, and with pregnant women there is a special situation in which stands the question of the quality of life of another person - it should be made so that this person emerges equal to everyone else.
These views were supported by all the experts present. BFPA has been actively supporting the campaign from the very beginning and hopes for a quick solution to the problem.
More information can be found on the website of the initiative, as well as on the social networks. Pay attention to the short animation at the beginning of the webpage – it explains everything.
